The Power of the Fruit

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Just then, a burst of hurried footsteps approached.

Moke's expression changed slightly, because the people coming should be Alvida and her subordinates. After all, someone had just gone to report to her.

And on top of that, there had been the gunshot from earlier.

Alvida would definitely have realized something was wrong, so she had hurried over.

Moke placed his hand on the ground, and his body immediately underwent a rapid change. The surface of his body turned the same earthy yellow as the ground. That was right—Moke's body had now assimilated into soil.

The instant the assimilation was complete, the corners of Moke's lips lifted slightly.

If eating the Devil Fruit had only given him a preliminary understanding of its power, experiencing it firsthand made him understand its terror even more clearly.

He raised a hand.

The ground immediately changed, rippling like the surface of water. The corpses were swallowed up and vanished without a trace. Not even a speck of blood remained.

"Not bad... What a perfect ability for killing and looting! It even saves me the trouble of digging graves!"

When everything returned to calm, Alvida rushed in with a group of people.

The moment Alvida entered, she froze. Moke was the only one here. That was strange—each group should have had seven or eight people. She might have been hot-tempered, but she was not stupid.

Growing wary, she stared at Moke and demanded, "Moke, why are you the only one here? Where are the others?"

The corners of Moke's mouth curled up, revealing a hint of smugness. Just as he was about to speak, he caught sight of a box out of the corner of his eye and froze. Only then did he notice it.

The people who had entered with Alvida were all carrying treasures. Apparently, there was more than one branch passage containing treasure.

And this box was one of them.

Most importantly, he had seen this box before. There had been one beside the squad leader whose Devil Fruit he had stolen earlier. It was most likely meant to hold the Paramecia Absorb-Absorb Fruit.

If that was true, then... what was inside this box?

"The Paramecia Slip-Slip Fruit?"

But if so, the Slip-Slip Fruit was still here. Then what exactly was the Paramecia Absorb-Absorb Fruit he had eaten?

Could it have been some "benefit" arranged for him by his cringe-loving roommate?

Seeing Moke fail to answer, Alvida's face immediately darkened. She could never tolerate a mere underling daring to ignore her. She roared, "Moke... I'm talking to you! Tell me where everyone else went, or I'll let you taste the power of this iron club!"

As she spoke, Alvida stepped toward Moke and waved the iron club in her hand.

Moke finally turned his gaze back to Alvida. Looking at her still-obese body, the smile on his face deepened.

He stomped his foot!

"Ah..."

A cry suddenly rang out behind Alvida, and she instinctively turned to look. With just one glance, Alvida's pupils shrank to pinpoints... because she saw an incredibly bizarre sight.

Two hands had stretched out from the ground beneath the feet of the underling holding the treasure box. One of them smashed fiercely into the underling's chin, knocking him to the ground.

The other hand snatched the treasure box from the underling's grasp.

Then it withdrew underground, vanishing before everyone's eyes along with the box.

"Gasp..."

The underlings all sucked in sharp breaths and instinctively backed away several steps, as though putting more distance between themselves and Moke would make them feel safer.

"A Devil Fruit user!"

At that moment, Alvida was utterly shocked. Why had Buggy the Clown earned a bounty of over ten million? Why had he been able to dominate an area? Why did even the East Blue Marines not dare provoke him lightly?

Wasn't it because he was a Devil Fruit user?

When she looked at Moke again, her gaze had completely changed. Her earlier contempt had long since turned into solemn caution and wariness.

But she soon lost her composure again.

Because she immediately saw a hand emerge from beneath the ground beside Moke's feet, holding up the treasure box that had just been snatched away. It handed the box to Moke, and after Moke took it—

He opened it directly.

Sure enough, there was another Devil Fruit inside.

Alvida's pupils trembled as she saw it. She had never imagined she could have been so close to becoming powerful.

Damn it!

She regretted it.

At the same time, she shot a hateful glare at one of the underlings nearby. It was all this guy's fault. If he had not come to tell her there was treasure here as well, she would have carefully inspected every treasure they had found over there.

How could she have missed this Devil Fruit?

And because of that, she completely lost her mind. She roared, "Bastard... that's mine!"

Then she charged at Moke, raising the iron club in her hand and swinging it down at him, clearly intending to smash him into pulp...

Rumble...

But just as she was about to strike Moke, a hard earthen wall rose from the ground and successfully blocked the blow.

"Not good..."

Alvida had become a pirate with a bounty of several million, so she naturally had plenty of combat experience. She immediately sensed that something was wrong.

But it was already too late.

Moke softly uttered, "Thrust!"

The next instant, a long spear shot out from the center of the earthen wall.

The attack was far too unexpected, and they were far too close. On top of that, Alvida was a relatively clumsy strength-type fighter. Even if she wanted to dodge, she could not!

Splat...

The spear pierced straight through Alvida's body. This was only the East Blue, after all. Alvida was merely a pirate with a bounty of several million. She was not like those monsters in the New World who could survive after having a huge hole blasted through their bodies.

"C-C-Captain was... Ah!"

The underlings were all stunned. In their hearts, Alvida had been an invincible existence. After all, they had never seen anyone defeat Alvida.

Otherwise, they would not have submitted to her.

"Run...!"

The underlings finally came to their senses. They did not even care about the treasures in their hands, throwing them aside as they turned and fled.

But how could Moke possibly let them go?

"Earth Release: Mudslide!"

The soil beneath Moke's feet seemed to come alive, rolling up like ocean waves and sweeping toward the underlings before swallowing them whole.

When everything settled down, the underlings' figures reappeared. However, every one of them was wrapped in mud, frozen in the poses they had held while fleeing.

They looked like earthen statues.

If no one broke apart the mud encasing their bodies and rescued them, they would be corroded by the earth and eventually become real mud statues.